Vegetable Gardening in Small Spaces

Question:

Allen, I have an area in my backyard that receives full sun, and I'd like to plant multiple vegetables. The problem is that I don't have a lot of space. Are there techniques that I can use in my limited area?

Answer:

Well, Ashley, actually, there are some things
you can think about. I love to do
raised beds, as you may know, with
nutrient-rich soils. So that'll put you in
good stead to produce a lot of vegetables.

I suggest you try a very old concept called
intercropping. It involves combining
plants in close quarters to save space. For
it to work the plants must have similar
cultural requirements and complementary
growing habits. For instance, deep rooted
carrots make good companions to shallow
rooted lettuce. Another example is planting
corn, squash and beans together. The squash
shades and cools the soil, the corn provides
a structure for the beans to climb and the
beans add nitrogen back to the soil. This
technique originated with Native American
Indians.

Another thing you can do is plan for the next
season when you are planting for the current
season. In Spring I planted Red Sails lettuce
as a groundcover and snap peas to grow up
stakes. Once it got a little warmer, I planted
Husky tomatoes in between the snap peas. When
the snap peas were done, the tomatoes had
plenty of room to grow up the stakes. Once the
lettuce was all harvested I had space to plant
snap beans.

One other thing to think about is planting in
containers. It's a great space-saving way to
grow things even potatoes can be grown in pots.
I use bushel and half-bushel baskets to grow
potatoes.

There are lots of different combinations of
vegetables that can co-exist and perform
beautifully. You just need to figure out the
season and which ones are compatible. And then
the other tip, of course, is to get creative in
the containers that you use.